Over the last thirty years the number of people playing lacrosse has increased dramatically. Today, in some locations, youth lacrosse is as popular as little league baseball and college teams are drawing over 30,000 people to a single game. Moreover, two professional leagues have been formed with teams in many of the largest cities around the United States and Canada.
As the sport has grown, the quality of play has also improved. Players are faster, stronger, and more skilled than ever before. Today, it is not uncommon for players to shoot a lacrosse ball in excess of 100 mph or pass behind their back with pin-point accuracy. As a result, players are demanding more of their equipment. The old hand carved wooden sticks are no longer used for playing the sport.
To satisfy this demand, companies have improved the design of lacrosse sticks. The old wooden sticks have been replaced by the combination of aluminum or titanium handle and a plastic head. The new handles and heads are designed to decrease the stick's weight, increase its durability, and improve its overall performance. However, no one has designed an efficient apparatus or method for stringing a traditional pocket for a lacrosse stick let alone stringing a high quality traditional pocket consistently.
People have tried to improve the quality of the pockets by stringing the pockets with different materials or in different patterns, but none of these ideas have succeeded. For example, in men's lacrosse, mesh pockets were created as an alternative to traditional pockets. The main advantage of a mesh pocket is the ease of stringing and the consistent shape. These advantages have allowed the mesh pocket to become the norm in the men's game. However, mesh style pockets are not allowed for women's play. As a result, there is still a need to improve the ease of stringing a traditional style pocket with a consistent shape.
To obtain a quality lacrosse pocket, lacrosse players must buy the materials for a pocket separately from the stick and pay an expert to install the pocket as the pockets sold at retail stores are strung inconsistently (i.e., the nylon placement, tension, depth, and shape of the pocket are random). If a lacrosse player does not know an expert, they must suffer the consequences of using a pocket which provides inadequate ball control, passing accuracy, and shooting speed. In addition, even an expert cannot string the same pocket twice in the same way. Thus, every time a player uses a new pocket, it takes several weeks to become familiar with how that particular pocket passes and shoots. These inconsistent pockets are a significant problem because lacrosse sticks frequently break during the middle of a game.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for stringing a traditional lacrosse pocket easily and consistently. Further, what is further needed is an apparatus and method for stringing a traditional lacrosse pocket without requiring an expert. Further, what is needed is an apparatus that allows traditional lacrosse pockets to be mass produced and inventoried so that they are ready for quick installation. Lastly, what is needed is an apparatus and method for stringing a traditional lacrosse pocket that can be mass-produced and easily installed into the lacrosse head, to satisfy the growing demand.